Retailers are increasingly turning to electronic shelf label (ESL) systems to handle the price changing needs in their stores. Along with ESL systems, integrated within the shelf rails, are the use of larger shelf talkers used to attract the customers attention by portraying a special item or price. U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,226, issued Sep. 5, 1995 to Failing, Jr., et al. shows such a system where a shelf talker is placed at a location where an item is on sale or of special interest to the customer. Failing refers to the shelf talkers as cards or printed material attached at a particular item location. Failing claims a management system whereby a shelf talker is detected upon insertion into an ESL, indicating to a database that a shelf talker has been deployed at that location.
The shelf talker disclosed by Failing is a printed card that must be removed and a new card printed when the information to be displayed, such as the item price, changes. This process is not only costly from a printing standpoint, but also labor intensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,005, issued Jun. 23, 1998 to Goodwin, III discloses a shelf talker that is described as an auxiliary display attached to an ESL. It electrically connects to the ESL by way of a connecting header and associated rows of connector pins. Goodwin's auxiliary display is described as an LCD with silk screening for color. One problem with using a conventional LCD display is the thickness of the display. Goodwin illustrates his LCD displays as rather thick allowing for the glass layers customarily found in liquid crystal displays. In one claim, Goodwin even describes two displays back-to-back and protruding orthogonally from the ESL. This makes for a very thick and rigid display jutting out from the ESL making it susceptible to breakage due to collisions from carts and customers. Conventional LCD displays also need continuous power in order to display the information thereby consuming the power in the battery provided with the shelf talker.
Another problem with the shelf talker disclosed by Goodwin is that the static information, such as UPC and other long term product information is screen printed on the auxiliary display. It is not convenient for stores to custom screen print their own shelf talkers to match the items and special pricing information.
There is therefore a need for an improved shelf talker that avoids the problems noted above.